Welcome friends!

Yes, I know. Time does have a way of slipping up on you. Little did I realize that I would slack so much, but so much has been going on. The biggest news is that we officially have a new Miller in the household! Maggie Miller was born September 16 and is home with us now. It didn't seem so long ago that we were just getting used to having Katie around but now we have two precious little girls in our house. So now we are in the adjustment period.

Things are good. We've been doing this stay at home thing for over a year and a half now and even though there are tough times, it's still very much worth it. Katie is in pre school 5 days a week now and Maggie is growing like a weed already. I'm sure I'll start writing again, just because of all the new changes that are going to happen in our life with two (not to mention the fact that I'll have to figure out how to take care of two instead of one now.) So stay tuned local viewers. Things are about to pick up!

LONG TIME NO WRITE

Okay. So I know this has been a long time. Sorry. Between the holidays, my ankle surgury and life in general, it gets hard sometimes. I'm not as dedicated nor as addicted to blogging as some folks but I do what I can. We just found out today that we're going to be having our second child. I can't tell you the myriad of emotions that are going through me right now, least of which is a combination of both excitement and perhaps a little honest fear. I mean, I think a little fear is human. If you don't have it, you lose your edge and your willingness to respond to situations. Call it primal, I suppose.

Katie is also gingto be turning 2!! this Sunday. Wow huh? Just seems like yesterday (but I'll spare you the chiches).

Hopefully this will continue again. I'm sure there's going to be a lot more to talk about in the future. Out for now. :)

Funny thing about parenting. I never truly think you ever get used to something because the child is always changing. Katie is now 20 months old now and learning something new every day. She is learning her colors and shapes and more and more words seem to come out of her mouth every single day.

One thing that I do seem to have to watch myself doing is trying to compare Katie to every other child out there. I think that's a trap a lot of parents fall into and then the guilt monster kicks in. "Am I spending enough time with her? Should we be working on "x" more with her? Why does that other child seem so much smarter than her?" Goes back to the glass is half empty mentality that most people have, I suppose. I tell ya though. Every day I am so thankful that my wife and I made the decision to do what we did and have my come off the road to spend time with her. Don't get me wrong. There are still a fair share of challenges that we face every day (and finances are a big part of it) but the overall "payment" we get in being able to be more involved with her life is priceless.

Speaking of finances. It's really funny how we've started adjusting. Again, I'm not saying that it's easy but you can really stop and look back and how much you really piss away money at stupid things when you're not paying attention. At the very least, this will keep us humble and thankful for everything we have (as it should be). In any event, I hope that we never take any moment we have with her for granted.

Side Note:

Just wanted to say that Katie is doing exceptionally well at her colors. We've been working on colors using both crayons (she has only tried eating the black one. Much to her surprise, it didn't taste as advertised) as well as color puzzles, which she does well at. Slowly but surely we're trying to introduce more and more letters and numbers but she's picking things up great.

Funny thing happened in the small town of Winston Salem. We felt 3 minor earthquakes the past two nights. Katie and I both slept through them. I don't think that many people know that we're somewhat near a fault line. Nothing major. Just wanted to be noted.

We went to the fair today. It's actually the 2nd time for Katie but the 1st time since she was tee tiny. It seemed I had as close of a grip on her this as the next. We were able to get a few digital shots before the camera went dead. She loved the pony ride and actually cried when we took her off the pony. Needless to say, there was lots of hand washing after visiting the animals.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??!!





Even little Katie is getting into the act of rooting on her daddy's favorite team, although she is just probably wondering why he's making her wear something that's still just a little too big for her at the moment. She'll grow into it.

The neighbors just had their 1st baby (congrats guys). I saw the baby today and it just reminded me of how tiny Katie was 18 months ago. I hope they enjoy every moment like I have with her. They do really change so quickly. It's truly amazing.

Things are going well in Katie's school. She's playing well with the other kids, finger painting, dancing to songs about body parts, etc. I know it may sound silly but I'm more excited than I think she is (obviously) but things are going great.

Still doing the swim lessons for one more session. I had her in the pool the other day for over an hour. Needless to say, she had two naps that day. I think I wore her out. :)

WOW!

Katie started her 1st day of per-school today. I don't know why I'm so giddy but I was elated to hear that she had a great day and that she got along well with the other kids and went with the flow. There were other children in there that wasn't handling the separation quite as well as others but Katie seemed to do fine. Don't get me wrong. She was very happy to see me when I picked her up but things went well in both dropping off and picking up (and the good news is that I didn't get caught up in the line of parents waiting for their kids). These times will allow me more to focus on taking care of things at home plus will give me time to work on the business more (which I have been neglegent on).

In other news, the playset is completely up and after I get a chance to wash it down from the workers climbing all over it to finish it (yes, it was a great investment to have someone else put it together. No shame in my game), it should be good to go. Now if I can only get the grass and the landscaping around it finished.. :)